A Trip to Orotina and A Fair

The last blog we were heading off to Manuel Antonio.  Well that never happened.  Phil and Liz came over for dinner; and then Phil and I took on Mike and Victoria in a game of euchre.  We ended up playing later than planned; and the idea of getting up at 4:30 to catch a bus for 5:40 am didn’t really appeal to any of us. 

We also learned early last week that Victoria’s parents, Catherine and David are going to come and join us for a week… so that was also part of us postponing the Manuel Antonio trip.  We'll go with them when they arrive a week from this Sunday.

So on Friday we caught a bus to a typical Costa Rica town called Orotina.  It was about an hour and a half bus ride, but we got to see lots more of the beautiful country here.

Shortly upon arriving, we found our way to a restaurant, and enjoyed a meal at a soda. 

We then started looking around.  I noticed that we were getting lots of stares, especially in the beginning.  Orotina doesn’t usually get a lot of tourists, and we stood out.

At one point we were lured into a bakery by the delicious smells coming from it.  Asked the owner what he recommended, and a huge piece of sweet bread filled with soft cheese and strawberries soon found its way into our bellies.  Boy was it ever good!

I was really impressed with Orotina.  Very clean with a very busy downtown core.  Don’t remember seeing an empty store front.  And of course all of the stores here are totally independent.

Saturday night, we headed off to our favorite burger joint, Papas & Burgers, stopped in to say hi to Joey/Eida and then off to the fair we went.  There were the “typical” fair rides… The Pirate, a roller coaster, bumper cars… etc.  And lots and lots of people.  Seemed like most of Jaco was there.

We didn’t go on any rides, as I have a little trust in the carnies that set those rides up at “home”, never mind here.  So we just walked around, watched and took pictures.

On Sunday, we road our bikes all the way to Los Suenos.  The round trip was approximately 15 kilometres and thankfully there weren't any real hills that we had to deal with.  Once arriving at the Marina, we parked our bikes and walked around. 

Then we drove our bikes back out to the main road, down to the beach for a bit; and then back home.  I can’t remember when was the last time I went on that long of a bike ride, but surprisingly, didn’t feel too sore the next day.

Our complex is being painted right now; and we treated a couple of the workers to some red liquorice.  Neither of them had ever had anything like it before, but there was lots of “good, good” and mmm coming out of their mouths.

And the other night, we had Phil and Vanessa (his daughter), and our new neighbour Jason over for lasagne.  And after dinner, Mike and I took on Victoria and Jason in euchre. 

Again, a good time is being had by all.  Please click here to look at our pictures.

The Fun Continues

These past few days have been fun filled.  We’ve had lots of parties, dinners, swims and oh yeah… an earthquake.

On Monday morning around 5:00 am the bed started shaking, followed shortly by cups/plates rattling.  Within a few seconds all of us were up.  Apparently the quake happened about an hour south of us; 15 miles off shore.

It was a 6.0 and as far as we know, there wasn’t any damage done.  And all of us were fine.  But talk about an exciting way to start the day.

On Monday night the 3 of us headed over to Papas & Burgers and played some good old fashioned Texas Hold ‘Em Poker.  There were about 18 people in total and I tripled my money!  Bought in for $4.00 and cashed out $12.00.  Mike and Victoria didn’t do so well; but I think we still came out ahead.

I ended up taking over the dealing (I know what a surprise!) and wowed and bedazzled all the other players with my poker dealing skills.  I’m in my element when I have a deck of cards in my hands.  Even tried to convinced a few of the other players that I was actually born with a deck of cards in my hands.  Some of them were a little drunk, so I may have succeeded.

We’ve been to the beach a few times; and Mike and Victoria have spent lots of time playing in the waves.  The waves here aren’t near as high or big as in Hermossa; so you don’t get tossed around quite so much.

We’ve also had lots of nights sitting around Phil’s pool with the Canadian Crew.  Even got together for their last night (which was last night) and went to Jaco Taco for dinner.  It was a lot of fun, the food was great; and Phil treated all of us.. Thanks again Phil!

Today we saw them off and have already made some plans to meet up in the Spring when we get home.

My bike had another flat tire this past week; and we have now bought tube #3, a different brand this time; and hopefully it’ll last.  Mike has become an expert in changing flat tires.  He’s also really really glad that’s it’s the front tire and not the back.

And as of today; Phil has lent Victoria one of his bikes to use for the rest of her time here.  She’ll have a much better chance of seeing all of Jaco this way.

A few days after the Canadian Crew showed up, Mike wearing his Tilley hat, looked over the wall to say hi.  When Paula looked up; she instantly was reminded of "Wilson" from the TV show Home Improvement.  His character was famous for not having the lower part of his face shown.  Ever since then, we have unofficially become "the Wilson's".  And Victoria is now "Miss Wilson".

So today, before we went over to say our goodbyes, Paula took a few pictures of us, being "the Wilson's".

And not sure how this happened; but I totally forgot to mention it in the last blog or post pictures.  But almost 2 weeks ago the bikers started arriving in Jaco for the weekend. 

Just a few showed up on Friday night and some booths were up and ready for business.  On Saturday morning, there were upwards of 1000 bikes in Jaco. 

Most of the bikes were parked around the park; which is just in front of our condo complex.  We spent a few hours wandering around and taking pictures.  At one point, I was standing on the side of the road; and about a 100 bikes or so passed.  I could feel the rumblings in my chest and the smell of gas.  It was pretty exhilarating.


Tonight, Phil is coming over for dinner and the 4 of us are going to play some euchre.  After a game or 2 maybe we'll teach them pepper, which is "the grown up" version of euchre and much more of a game.

The plan for tomorrow is to be up and out the door by 6:00 am.  We’re heading to Manuel Antonio for the day; hope the monkeys are out.

Click here to look at our pictures.

Mike Birthday and Victoria Arrives

The past few weeks have just flown by.  Our new friend Phil, from London, had some friends show up for a 10 day visit; and we also met a group from Pensacola, Florida.

We’ve had a couple of beach fires with the group from Florida; and it’s been a lot of fun.  Joey brings his grill; we all bring food and drinks and the party begins!

On a couple of occasions, Joey/Eida’s daughters have come and entertained us with their guitars and singing. 

We have also done lots of things with the Canadian Crew.  Dinners out; drinks around Phil’s pool; drinks on Phil’s front patio… lots of drinking. 

Then on Mike’s birthday, which was on Friday; his cousins daughter, Victoria from Seattle; arrived for a months vacation in Costa Rica.

We met her at the bus station; and it’s been non-stop ever since.  After unpacking and taking a swim, we headed off to Rustico’s for dinner.  I forgot to mention this in the last post; but we finally saw Sadie, our favourite sister who owns Rustico’s. 

She only works the occasional weekend now; and she happened to be there a few weeks ago.  She recognized us right away and her face lit up into a huge smile; she then came out from behind the register and gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek!  Don’t think that that has ever happened at home… made me feel good to get that kind of welcome from her.

After dinner, we headed home to gather our stuff for the upcoming party at the beach and off we went.

Joey had gotten a load of wood earlier in the day; and had it all set up for us when we got there.  Within short order, there were 20-30 people to help Mike celebrate his 61st birthday. 

The group from Pensacola were there; the Canadian Crew; Joey/Eida, and a few other people that we didn’t know.  The fire was huge; and we partied late into the night.  We had a great time and for both of us; our birthdays this year will be remembered for many years to come.  Both of us are Canadian winter babies; and usually a beach fire is out of the question.  But not this year; and boy did we ever have a lot of fun.

Yesterday, we took Victoria up the road to Hermossa so she could watch the surfing competition.  While Mike watched our stuff; we went into the waves and boy did we get tossed around by a few of them.

The waves were huge; and the under tow was pretty strong; but it was still a lot of fun.  We finally decided to get out when a couple of surfers came pretty close to our heads with their surfboards.  So back to the beach we went to watch from a safer distance.

Got back to Jaco and off to Papas & Burgers we went for yet another great dinner.  There was a street parade going on with lots of marching bands, etc and so after dinner we stopped and watched/listened for a bit.

The Canadian Crew were also out there; chatted with them for a bit; and made plans for us to come over later.  We headed home for much needed showers and then back to Phil’s we went for a late swim, more drinking and visiting. 

We’ve had a lot of fun this past while; click here to take a look to see some of our pictures.

A Birthday Beach Fire

For the first time ever in my life, I got to have a fire on the beach this year for my birthday!  And was it ever nice.

We went for dinner at Papas & Burgers, and around 8pm we headed to the beach.  Joey had gotten some wood for us; and within short order we had a blazing fire going.

7 of our friends showed up and helped me celebrate.  Mike had baked me a chocolate cake and we brought that to the beach to serve.

The night was perfect; and we plan to do it all again a week from tomorrow for Mike’s birthday.

On Monday morning, Joey picked us up and off to the beach we went.  Joey and Eida wanted to try out a kayak that their thinking of buying.  We didn’t have bathing suits with us; or we would have tried it out too.  Maybe next time.

A lot of the rest of this past week (or so) has been pretty much spent the same.  We go on lots of bike rides; lots of mountain hikes; and we are spending a lot of time at the beach this year.  Being this close, plus having chairs makes a huge difference.

We’ve also been down lots of new roads in Jaco this year.  And have ridden around a few typical barrios.  All I can say, is boy do we ever have it good at “home”.  I didn’t take any picture while driving around the barrios, as I’m not yet quite co-ordinated enough to pedal a bike and operate a camera.  Maybe by the end of our stay here, I’ll get to that stage; but not yet.

Our neighbour Phil gave us the key to his place and we’ve been using his pool almost daily.  And boy is it ever nice.  No kids, private, stereo playing; and did I mention NO KIDS!!!

My front tire on my bike has been going flat since my birthday.  Mike figures it's been 30 plus years since he last fixed a flat tire; and he's done it 4-5 times in this past week.  The first time, he biked over to the bike shop and the guy fixed it for a dollar.  That lasted about an hour before it was flat again.  Next was a repair kit for about a dollar and 2 patches later, decided to get a new tube.

The new tube within an afternoon had 2 patches; so off to the store Mike went again.  This time he bought a smaller tube; and very thoroughly checked to see if there was anything sharp in the tire (there wasn't).  So far it's been a few days; and no flats!

And last night; we had another fire on the beach.  This time with some American tourists that Joey had met earlier in the week.  While enjoying the fire, and cook out, Joey and Skip both caught red snappers. 

The first one, was caught by Skip and Joey was planning on turning it into Ceviche for them; the second one; was served within short order.  Joey took the fish to his place, cleaned and gutted it.  Then he lined some tin foil with salt, put the fish on that; covered it with more salt and sealed the tin foil.

Back to the beach and onto the fire.  An hour later, the fish was done and boy oh boy was it ever good!  You don’t get much fresher than that.  They even had melted garlic butter to dip the fish into and mmm mmm tasty!

So, all in all it’s been a couple of nice weeks, again, in Jaco.  Please click here to look at our pictures.